Research from Viviana Gradinaru, Director of the Center for Molecular and Cellular Neuroscience, is cited in this article about dLight1, a dopamine sensor developed by Lin Tian and her team at UC Davis Health, which detects this hormone which is released by neurons to send signals to other nerve cells. When combined with advanced microscopy, […]

After a sudden fright, it’s common for your heart rate to stay elevated, your palms to stay sweaty and senses to remain alert for another threat. Mice also exhibit this response and a team of Caltech researchers wanted to learn what’s happening at a cellular level in the mouse’s brain during these persistent displays of […]

In the first week of the coronavirus pandemic, people living in the United States underestimated their chances of catching the virus, or of getting seriously ill from the virus, according to a recently published Caltech-led study. But as the days progressed, those same people became more worried about their personal risk, and, as a result, […]

One of the most challenging aspects of studying the brain is that it’s so hard to access within living organisms. Mikhail G. Shapiro, PhD, TCCI®-affiliated, Professor of Chemical Engineering and Heritage Medical Research Institute Investigator was recently interviewed by the Dana Foundation about his team’s recent discovery of an “erasable” contrast agent which makes it easier to study […]

The most life-threatening of all psychiatric disorders is anorexia nervosa, affecting about one percent of Americans. The eating disorder typically emerges in adolescence and is characterized by low body-mass index and an intense fear of weight gain. Anorexia damages the heart, sometimes fatally, and can injure the brain and other organs, weaken bones and muscles, impair […]

Several TCCI® for Neuroscience faculty members at Caltech have received grants from Merkin Institute for Translational Research to study different aspects of COVID-19.  Dean Mobbs, assistant professor of cognitive neuroscience and Chen Scholar; Cindy Hagan, research assistant professor of neuroscience; and Ralph Adolphs, Bren Professor of Psychology, Neuroscience, and Biology, and director of the Caltech […]

In an open marketplace, such as a farmers’ market where produce and other goods like candles and flowers are exchanged for money, the ideal prices for both consumers and sellers will quickly emerge. For example, if a seller tries to offer a bag of peaches for $10 but another vendor is willing to sell similar […]

Researchers in the labs of Professor Yu Jintai within the Department of Neurology at Fudan University-affiliated Huashan Hospital and Professor Tan Lan from the Department of Neurology at Qingdao University have discovered that frequent sleepiness during the day, insufficient sleep or too much sleep at night can affect the levels of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) indicators […]

Before the days of rote texting and email, if you wanted to communicate with a friend you might have written a physical letter. Similarly, the individual cells in our bodies communicate with each other by sending tailored “letters”—not with paper and pen, but in the form of proteins called ligands.   Researchers in the laboratory […]

For years, Caltech’s Mikhail Shapiro, a TCCI®-affiliated faculty member, has been working to extend ultrasound imaging into the microscopic realm. Now, with a new breakthrough based on genetic engineering, he is making it possible for researchers to use ultrasound to watch enzymes at work within cells.   In a new paper appearing in the journal Nature Chemical Biology, Shapiro and […]